


Fortune Favours The Bold

by Sister_Grimm



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cisco is not impressed, M/M, Teacher-Student Relationship, Wells is creepy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 08:34:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6975616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sister_Grimm/pseuds/Sister_Grimm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hartley Rathaway just wants to get his master's without his parents disowning him. Cisco Ramon is a problem in this plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fortune Favours The Bold

There is not enough coffee in the world, Hartley thinks as he walks into the Intro to Mech Engg class he's TAing. He's clutching a Jitters cup tightly and it's a little bit before 8 am so he's right on time. He slips into the partially empty classroom in the Engineering building and tugs his large headphones down to tuck them away. Harrison - Dr. Wells - is already waiting. Hartley drops his bag on one of the empty chairs and loops his headphones through the strap. 

"Good morning, Mr. Rathaway." Harrison says softly and Hartley nods, trying to suppress the flush threatening to climb up his neck.

"Morning, Dr. Wells." He surveys the room. Ugh firsties. All bushy tailed and bright eyed before Engineering kicks their asses. It would amusing to see who made it through the course. He'd taken this class in the first year of his undergrad and it had had about a 50 percent wash out rate even with the curving. Harrison is writing something on the board and with a glance to the clock he turns to face the roomful of students when the door swings open.

"Sorry I'm late Dr. Wells." And Hartley turns slowly to the source of the noise, a shorter Latino man with a man bun and a Han shot first shirt. '"Coffee incident." And the man gestures to his shirt which is damp from what was, most likely, coffee.

"Well, now we can begin." Harrison says. "First, class, these are your TAs: Hartley Rathaway and Cisco Ramon," and as Harrison talks Hartley sneaks a glance at Ramon, and he feels his heart stutter because Ramon is looking right at him. "Secondly", Harrison says catching Hartley's attention again, "Fortes fortunate adiuvat: fortune favours the bold. And so does engineering. Don't be afraid to dream big." As Harrison begins to talk, Hartley slips into the seat beside his bag and pulls out his laptop to go back to the schematics he was designing for his thesis. He can feel Ramon sit beside him and Hartley tries to focus on his coffee. The first day is somehow even more boring when you're a TA as opposed to a student and he listens to Harrison list off his office hours and elaborate on the grading system and explain that they have a project due at the end of the term and Harrison taps the writing on the board, "Fortune favours the bold, and so do I. Impress me."

Hartley smiles, Harrison had a knack for inspiring people. And he could hear the murmurs of the students at Harrison's words. "You'll be getting a email telling you whether you are in Mr. Rathaway's section or Mr. Ramon's. Now," he writes an equation on the board, "who wants to tell me what this is."

"The rocket equation?" A fucking keener in the front row says with mild hesitation.

"Yes. The rocket equation. Proof that man can, in fact, do whatever he sets his mind to." And Harrison begins the proper lecture portion of the class.

After the class Ramon turns to him and holds out his hand, "Nice to meet you, Hartley. Wells has told me a lot about you."

"Maybe he hopes you'll learn something.", Hartley says icily and Ramon's smile flickers slightly. "We're coworkers, we don't have to be friends." He continues and Ramon drops his hand.

"Uh, sure. See you in the lab then?" Ramon says as he starts to walk away. And Hartley feels a little bad but not enough to want to catch up and apologize.  
***

 

Hartley decides to stop for another coffee before his last class, trying his best to ignore the crush of people around him. He sighs perhaps louder than strictly necessary and the barista gives him a dirty look as she hands him his Americano and he heads back to the Engineering building for Harrison's turbulent fluid dynamics class. He slips into one of the chairs in the corner of the room and keeps his headphones on pretty much until Harrison arrives. He sees Cisco enter with Dr. Stein's grad student Ronnie and Dr. Isley's grad student, Caitlin and the three of them are laughing about something. 

Hartley rolls his eyes aggressively as the group slip into their seats and Harrison pulls up his slides and begins to talk. He takes a sip from his coffee and his eyes fall on Cisco again, who's tapping a sucker against his lip as Harrison talks. Hartley is taking notes on his laptop and trying to pretend he's not watching Ramon but every once in a while he looks up and locks eyes with Hartley. Harrison is talking about the failure of engineering to define the exact models of turbulent fluid dynamics and when Ramon speaks up about what he thinks the problem is Hartley is maybe a little impressed but he maintains his neutral expression and watches Harrison's ass as he walks back and forth through the classroom.

***

As he's packing up his stuff, Harrison comes up behind him. "Can you meet me in my office in 10 minutes? I want to talk to you about some of your theories?"

Hartley nods, throat dry. He waits a few minutes after Harrison leaves the classroom to follow him up to the 5th floor of the building and then to a small windowless office. As Harrison closes the door, Hartley turns to look at him and then Harrison kisses him and Hartley mewls softly. "What do you think of Mr. Ramon?"

Hartley rolls his eyes, "Well he's not a total idiot?"

Harrison laughs and kisses him again, slow and hot and hungry. He slides his hand under Hartley's t-shirt and trails his nails over Hartley's abs. Hartley just shudders, "God please."

Harrison smirks and he unbuttons Hartley's jeans and looks at him, "Been thinking about me?"

Hartley gasps and nods, "You look great in those pants."

"I will keep that in mind."

***

When he's tugging his clothes back into place, Harrison calls him over to his desk, "I was reading over your proposal and I thought these would be a good place to start." Hartley is impressed, only one of those books was written by Harrison himself. They must be very good for Harrison to be recommending them. "You know you're my guy.", Harrison breathes against his ear and Hartley shudders.

"I'll see you in the lab later." Hartley says, "And thanks for the books. I'm sure they'll be interesting."

"I look forward to discussing them with you." And Hartley slips out of the office and as he walks past the lab, Ronnie waves him down.

"Hey Rathaway, we're going out for drinks, want to come?"

Hartley's eyebrow nearly hits the roof, "Why?"

"For fun?" Ronnie says, unperturbed. 

"Thanks but no thanks." Hartley says flatly as he walks past and Ronnie shrugs and turned back to the lab. Hartley tugs his headphones and walks back towards his apartment. Close to campus but probably the nicest building in the area, courtesy of the Bank of Mom and Dad. He heads up towards the elevator and when he enters the elevator he finally loses his composure and lays his head back against the shiny mirrored wall. Cisco Ramon is a disaster waiting to happen and Hartley knows it. So he turns up his music and tries block the feeling of that eye contact out of his head. Fiddles with his keys and lets himself into his apartment. First thing he does is go to feed his pet rats and he starts a pot of tea. Finally he looks at the pile of books and adds them to the growing pile on his coffee table. So he sets up his laptop, relaxes onto the couch and pulls up his schematics. His phone buzzes and he glances at it. Grindr. Why did he download that again? 

He grabs his tea and heads over to his couch. He looks at the top book, about architectural acoustics. That's not something Hartley would have chosen for his own studies but as he skims it he can understand why Harrison would recommend it. The way certain architecture amplifies sound does sort of overlap with his thesis. He inhales the scent of his chamomile tea and starts making notes. His phone buzzes again and he glances at it, an email from Harrison. Ah, the section list for the tutorials starting next week. A group of about 15 students, that's not that bad. He adjusts his headphones, turns up his music, and sets his tea down and goes back to reading. He supposes he can see the overlap between architecture and mechanical engineering. 

***

The material is interesting but one of the downsides to being a grad student is all the reading, some people might think he's a keener for being so invested in the reading already but that's why he had the highest grades in all of his undergrad classes. It's probably about midnight when he takes off his glasses and lets his face fall in his hands with the slow realization that he should probably go to bed before he literally falls asleep on the couch. Dragging himself up, he shucks off his hoodie and tosses it on the floor beside his bed. Strips down to his boxers and heads to bed, finding himself idly wondering what Ramon would look like in a moment like this. Based on the t-shirt, Hartley can only guess with a cringe at the nerd garb hiding under his clothes if he wears that in public. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. And he is never gonna get any sleep tonight if he doesn't stop thinking about this. So he takes matters into his own hands, thinks about the way Ramon had smiled at him when they first met, the intensity in class, the sucker. God.

It's not a particularly restful sleep even after that, but Hartley's pretty much used to that. If it's not insomnia, it's anxiety or this, that, or the other thing. So he's up at 4 am, after going for a run, making coffee and reading Harrison's book from the list, about modelling relativistic phenomena at low speeds using sound waves as an analogy to light waves. The coffee is a little too bitter, he always makes it strong, no milk and definitely no sugar but that's not a bad thing, it jolts him awake way before the coffee could have logically kicked in. He figures he can hit the lab for a bit at least. Drags himself up and puts on some actual clothing before heading out. He takes his travel mug out of his bag and scans his id to head into the lab. And he uploads his flash drive of notes, loading up the specialized software he needs. 

He gets lost in his thoughts and in the design when he hears the door click open, and turns to find Ramon fumbling with his bag and sliding into a spot on the other side of the lab. He's tempted to ask what brings Ramon here at 6 am this early in the term but the words don't come. So he turns his attention back to the problem Harrison asked him to work on. It's a complex problem, probably even an early Phd level problem but Hartley's good at this stuff, it might take him a few hours to crack it but he's got this. He can't see what Ramon's working on but he supposes it's probably a Harrison problem. He wonders if the problem Ramon has is half as allegedly difficult as the formula and question in front of him. 

He hears a noise distantly and tugs offs his headphones, find Ramon standing behind him, "Do you want to get coffee?"

Hartley blinks, "With you?"

"Uh, yeah?" Ramon says quietly.

"Why?"

"Because it's 7 am and because coffee?" Ramon shrugs.

"I'll pass.", Hartley says dryly, lips drawn into a straight line.

Ramon sighs, "Whatever, Rathaway." And with that he grabs his bag and heads out, leaving Hartley to his music and his equation. It takes until about nine but he puzzles out the most plausible solution and it's about time to head towards his physics class. Luckily Ramon isn't in this class but unfortunately Ronnie is and he smiles when he sees Hartley and Hartley pretends he doesn't see him, slips into his seat and listens to Dr. Stein start his lecture.

He stops by Harrison's office to talk about the equation that Harrison had sent him and ends up with Harrison's fingers tangled in his hair. And Harrison makes the most glorious noises. Hartley could get off on those alone.

***

The end of the first week brings mandatory family time. Dinner and a show, or rather dinner then the orchestra.

"How has the first week been, Hartley?" 

He glances over at his mother from his plate and puts down his wine glass, "Good. Dr. Wells is both a genius and pleasure to work with." He maintains a straight face even as he remembers the last time he saw Harrison, after some lab time on Saturday night. They'd stopped in his office for some scotch and a game of chess. And he takes a sip of his wine.

"That's excellent. What about business courses? The dual major isn't too stressful?", His mother asks.

"No, it keeps me busy. I'm enjoying it."

"What about your classmates?", His father wonders.

Hartley shrugs, "They aren't total morons I suppose."

"They may go on to be your colleagues," his father says, "try to at least be polite."

Hartley nods, takes another sip of wine, tries to not think about Cisco Ramon who he is probably going out of his way to alienate in all honesty, and the topic of conversation shifts. "Did you hear about the police captain?", his mother says.

"I fail to understand how you can stop crime while suffering from that kind of moral decay." His father says and Hartley tightens his hands on his utensils but can't, won't say anything. And finishes off his wine, because sometimes the only way to deal with his parents was to drink. 

Dinner ends quietly and Hartley goes to change into a suit. The orchestra will be a nice break from...that. So he sits in the box and listens to the music, surprised to note Oliver Queen slip in late. 

During intermission, he slips away while his parents are distracted and goes to say hi to Oliver who is, somewhat unsurprisingly, already kind of drunk and they head over to the bar together.

Hartley orders something stronger than wine at least and Oliver debates whether they could convince the bartender to let them do shots. 

Hartley rolls his eyes, Oliver's pretty but wow, is he a moron so when he and Hartley end up in the coat room, Hartley's glasses fogging up, Hartley doesn't feel too bad about never calling.

They even make it back before the start of the second act, his parents smiling as they greet Oliver who manages to look sober at least long enough to not trip on anything on his way to see his sister and his girlfriend in their own box.

***

His first day actually teaching a tutorial goes perhaps shockingly well, he has at least five people who seem to have done the reading before class and several who can even keep up with the concepts he's throwing at them. 

They're still first years but some of them might go on to at least pass the class and that's about all he'd hazard a guess at. He wanders through the student centre on his way to his next class and sees Ramon again pouring over a textbook with his hair down and as Hartley passes by his eyes are drawn towards Ramon's well defined ass in skinny jeans. This is not good. So he hurries towards Dr. Smoak's computer graphics class. He's taking it as an elective, diversify his portfolio and all that. The classroom is small and Ramon arrives for once before the professor does and he slides in beside Hartley, "I heard you survived your first tutorial, but I'm not sure if I should take you or your victims out for drinks."

"You think you're funny." Hartley says dryly.

"I am hilarious, I'll have you know." And Hartley almost smiles at that. 

"You serious about that drink?" Hartley catches himself by surprise.

"Uh, yeah, if you want?" Ramon - Cisco - mumbles, like he didn't expect Hartley to say yes. Hartley can't really blame him. Just two classmates and co-workers going out for a friendly drink, Hartley insists to himself. When Cisco stretches out, Hartley notices that his converse have rainbow laces. And his heart jackrabbits in his chest. Dr. Smoak shoots them both a look and begins her lecture.

"So uh, 7, at the campus bar?" Cisco says.

Hartley nods, throat dry and as they slip out, they're accosted by all 6 foot some of Ray Palmer and Cisco smiles, "Hey." And he kisses Ray quickly and Hartley stutters.

"You ok, Hartley?" Cisco asks confused.

"Uh, yeah. See you at 7?" So Cisco is definitely queer, and definitely taken. That's a good thing, right?, Hartley thinks to himself, and yet his heart kind of sinks regardless. 

***

7 pm rolls around and Hartley enters the vaguely shady bar that is the campus watering hole, keeping an eye out for Cisco. Out of the corner of his eye he seems a hand moving and he walks over to where Cisco is sitting, hair out of his face in a bun and a beer in front of him. "Wow, you actually showed up."

"Indeed I did", Hartley says dryly.

"I'm sorry, I just sort of expected you to stand me up."

"This is hardly a date, Ramon.", he snaps and he regrets it when Cisco looks a little taken aback. But he slips into the cushioned booth and sets his coat and bag beside him. And Cisco's bag is across from him, with a mix of buttons, some comic book, some Star Wars and one large rainbow button and Hartley feels his cheeks flush when he sees it. "So uh, how long have you and Ray been dating?"

"A couple of months? Dr. Smoak introduced us last year."

"That's nice." Hartley tries to keep his voice flat and disinterested but from the way Cisco looks at him he's not really sure if it works.

"So uh, how did the tutorial go?"

"Well a few of them might pass?" Hartley shrugs.

"You know you're kind of a dick right? Give the kids more credit. Not everyone is a genius."

Hartley's lips quirk again and he orders a beer when the waitress shows up. "I would settle for even one genius."

"Then come out with us sometime, we drunkenly argue about science all the goddamn time." It sounds almost appealing but being drunk in Cisco's presence seems dangerous. 

They talk quietly and Cisco even manages to make him laugh a few times and they're on their second beers when a petite blonde walks over, "Hey Cisco."

"Oh hey, Sara. How are you?"

"I'm good, just thought I'd come over and say hi. Nyssa and I are commiserating over the queer lit course." And she points in the direction of a young middle eastern woman who waves awkwardly. Hartley knows how she feels.

"It's that bad?" Cisco laughs.

"Ugh, she puts her foot in her mouth like once, a week. But hey, great way to meet girls." She says with a wink.

"Well I can't imagine you having any trouble in that regard, Sara."

"Anyway, I should get back to my not-a-date. I'll see you at the mixer?"

"Definitely.", Cisco says with a smile.

Hartley raises an eyebrow. And Cisco points at the rainbow button on his bag, "I used to run the Queer club at UC Coast, but we don't have a grad student equivalent here so I go visit the undergrads when I get the chance."

"Oh. Well I suppose undergrads are more at your level."

Cisco just rolls his eyes, "You can't fool me, Rathaway. Under all that ice there's probably something nice about you."

"You'd be surprised."

"No, at this point, I really wouldn't be. You kind of alternate layers of jerk and dick."

"You have the mental acuity of a 12 year old."   
***

When he gets home, his vision is a little fuzzy and he takes off his glasses, leans his head in his hands and sighs aggressively. Somehow he ended up with Cisco's phone number in the course of the evening. He is so fucked. At least Cisco has a boyfriend and he doesn't strike Hartley as the cheating type. He's seen how loyal Cisco can be, admittedly mostly when Hartley's being a dick but still. And that's all the more reason to know that he wouldn't have a chance even if he wanted one. Which he doesn't, at all.

But he still has time to do some reading, so he ignores his mildly fuzzy head and pulls up the articles for Harrison's class. 

*** 

When he wakes up his alarm is blaring and he's still on his fucking couch. Fully dressed. Fuck. He drags himself up to get changed and get some coffee before heading to his job.

When he gets to class, Harrison flags him over before he enters the class, lowers his voice and says, "I have some questions about your thesis. Maybe after drinks tonight?" 

Hartley nods, "Absolutely." And as they head in he realizes that Cisco had come in behind them.

Harrison throws the information for the upcoming midterm up on the smart board and starts detailing the grading scheme for the midterm and Hartley notices that Cisco keeps looking at him but it's more questioning than usual. 

And as he slips out of the class Cisco catches up to him, "You go for drinks with our supervisor?"

Fuck. Hartley shrugs, affects a calmness he doesn't feel and says, "Yeah, he thinks it encourages a strong working relationship. I've had lots of profs like that."

Cisco doesn't seem convinced but he lets it drop. "In the interest of you not setting several poor firsties' exams on fire, you're coming over while we grade the exams, we'll order some food, have some beers and grade the shit out of these exams."

Hartley stops dead, "Uh, sure." 

Cisco nods, "Anyway, I have to go meet Ray." And he doesn't seem nearly as happy about that as Hartley would expect.

And Hartley shocks himself, "Everything ok?"

Cisco shakes his head, "It's complicated."

"Uh, I hope it all works out?" The words feel heavy on his tongue, he's never really had friends. 

Cisco smiles, "Thanks, Hart." And Hartley just glares at the stupid nickname and Cisco laughs.

***

"So seems like you and Cisco are starting to get along better.", Harrison muses.

Hartley gasps against Harrison's neck, the desk digging into his back, "Can we not talk about Ramon right now?" 

"As long as you're still my guy, Hartley."

"God, yes. Of course." Hartley whimpers and finally Harrison kisses him again.

***

When he leaves Harrison's office, he plugs in his headphones and begins the short walk back to his apartment and his phone vibrates. He pulls it out of his pocket and he looks it. There's a text message from Cisco, of course, who else would text him?

Ray and I broke up.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Fuck. 

The first thought that flashes through his mind is what it would be like to kiss Cisco. He thinks he would kiss slowly, lazily, taste of coffee and candy. 

The second is oh that sort of sucks, I wonder what happened, and since when was he the sort of guy who cares about his classmates or their personal drama.

He unlocks his apartment, feeds his rats and turns up some particularly intense classical music and goes back to work. Trying to block thoughts of newly single Cisco out of him mind. Wonders idly if Cisco is the get over someone by getting under someone else type. Wonders what Cisco's type is. If Barry Allen wasn't aggressively heterosexual he could see Cisco and him having a thing. And when the fuck did he start caring about this shit. 

***

Harrison doesn't show up for the midterm, he's locked in the lab trying to figure out the details of a paper. So he leaves Cisco and Hartley in charge. They pace in silence, watching the students write in peace. And every time he moves he can feel the after effects from Harrison, the pleasant soreness. And he catches Cisco's eye and smiles softly, Cisco too distracted by his lollipop to notice that Hartley Rathaway is actually fucking smiling for no real reason. 

He wonders how many people will get the bonus question. He and Cisco had been up all night last week writing those questions. And the bonus question was the product of 2am tossing interesting and bizarre problems at the air and seeing what stuck and what didn't seem "totally insane and cruel" as Cisco had put it as he shot down several of Hartley's ideas.

But he supposes that is the point of the bonus questions, see who in the crowd has potential. Harrison had cited that as one of the first things to draw him to Hartley: his unique handling of the bonus question from this very midterm nearly five years ago, long before Harrison first kissed him.

***

They finally clear their schedules for the weekend in order to block out an evening to grade these exams. 

He shows up at Cisco's little top floor walk up with a six pack of really good beer and he tugs down his headphones as he knocks on Cisco's door. Cisco answers quickly, hair pulled up in a bun and loose Avengers t-shirt and skinny jeans. "Hey you actually showed!"

"One day you will stop being surprised by this.", Hartley says dryly. 

"I find that unlikely.", Cisco grins and he takes the six pack from Hartley and his hand brushes against Hartley's and his heart stutters. He also notes that Cisco's nail are both painted and chipped. This is a terrible idea. But he follows Cisco into the small studio apartment. Cisco tosses the beer in the fridge and points to the big box of exams on the floor. "Sit."

"Are we seriously sitting on the floor?" Hartley grimaces.

"Well we could sit on my bed?" Cisco suggests.

While it sounds more comfortable than the floor, it also sounds very dangerous so instead they lean in between the coffee table and the bed and started marking exams.

"Ugh this is awful." Hartley groans even though he's only about 3 exams in.

"This is why you are here. And why we are drinking." Cisco laughs and the doorbell rings, "I hope you like Thai."

Hartley shrugs, "Sounds good."

Hartley isn't the best with chopsticks but he's had enough practice over various business trips with his father that he is definitely better than Cisco and he can't help but laugh as he watches Cisco struggle.

After dinner they open their next beers and go back to the exams, it's multiple choice so at least it's going by fast. And when Hartley looks up Cisco's playing with the beer bottle more than drinking from it and Hartley hears his breath catch and Cisco turns to him, eyes flickering rapidly between Hartley's eyes and his lips and he sets down his beer. Hartley knows what's about to happen but he's reacting before his brain can talk him out of this and he meets Cisco halfway. And the kiss is slow, hesitant at first but when Cisco realizes Hartley's kissing back, that quickly changes. It's all passion and a month's worth of want on both sides.

Cisco somehow manages to pull Hartley on top of him. And Hartley hears himself gasp, as Cisco's teeth brush his neck, knees on either side of Cisco's hips and he can feel Cisco's hands shoving his hoodie off. Hartley lets him and slides his hands up under Cisco's shirt. 

"God Hartley, please." He hears Cisco's gasp and it seems to snap Hartley out of his trance.

"I have to go.", Hartley gasps pulling back, heart pounding in his ears. "I have to go." He grabs his hoodie, pulls on his shoes and leaves Cisco just sitting there. Hartley jams his shaking hands in his pockets. What the fuck was he thinking. 

***

He strongly considers not leaving his house on Monday but he's better than that. He feels like an asshole for running away. When he gets to Harrison's class with extra strong coffee. Cisco isn't there. He wonders if Cisco wants to avoid him as much as he wants to avoid Cisco. Probably. But the door swings open at five to 8 and Cisco walks in, gripping a cup of coffee so tightly it looks it'll explode if his hands twitch and he doesn't make eye contact with Hartley all class.

When they leave the class he wonders if Cisco is going to say anything but he elbows past Hartley without a word. Hartley sighs and Harrison comes up beside him, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything is fine, Dr. Wells." He only calls him that in public. In private, Harrison had always insisted on the use of his proper name.

"I have some thoughts on your thesis. If you have the time."

Hartley shakes his head, "I need to finish grading those exams."

He doesn't notice the look Harrison gives him.

But he does swallow his pride and texts Cisco to ask if they can talk. Maybe they can forget the whole thing happened. If Hartley was honest with himself, and that was rare enough, he would admit he didn't want to forget it had happened. But he's never had a real relationship. It's only ever been Harrison.

Cisco texts back.

That seems like a good idea.

Hartley sighs. He is so fucked.

This is how he finds himself standing in quiet classroom, sitting on a desk and waiting for Cisco, tapping his fingers against the desk in time to the music when the door opens.

"Why here?", Cisco asks quietly.

"No one's gonna interrupt."

Cisco cringes, "This the part where you beat me up for confusing your precious sexuality?"

"What? No!" Hartley blurts out.

"I'm sorry, that was low. I get it, you're straight." And Cisco turns to leave the room.

He can let Cisco walk away, they can put it behind them but Hartley's watching himself move towards Cisco, puts his hand on his shoulder and Cisco turns and then Hartley is kissing him like his life depends on it and maybe it does. It's all teeth and need. And Hartley pulls back, "I'm gay. I've just never told anyone." 

And Cisco sighs, "Closet case. Of course, I knew you were too good to be true."

Hartley cringes at that, "But I like you and maybe we could try."

Cisco shakes his head, "Personal rule. I don't date closet cases."

Hartley probably looks as crestfallen as he feels as Cisco walks away.

He hears the door close behind Cisco and he slumps on the floor, trying to ignore the burning behind his eyes.

***

He opts to throw himself back into his schoolwork after that disaster which is how he finds himself in the lab with Harrison at two am.

"I noticed you and Cisco seem distant again." Harrison muses.

"We just have some inherent incompatibilities.", Hartley shrugs, like thinking about Cisco doesn't still cut.

The lab has a ton of windows and the glass doors but Harrison cups his face and ghosts his lips over Hartley's. "Harrison", Hartley gasps, "Someone could see us."

"It's two am, no one is going to surprise us.", Harrison promises as he kisses Hartley again and this time Hartley kisses back, feels the weight of Harrison against him, holding him against the counter, thigh wedged between Hartley's legs and Hartley hears himself gasp and whimper and tries to muffle himself by biting his lip. And he hears the distant sound of a door closing. His eyes going wide as he tries to locate the source of the noise but Harrison doesn't loosen his grip, doesn't let him move until Hartley is shuddering underneath him.

He blushes as he slips past Harrison to go back to trying to get some work done. "I wouldn't worry about Cisco, Hartley. You're a brilliant young man." God he loves the way Harrison says that and he shudders again from the way Harrison looks at him, almost reverentially.

But as he walks home at 4 am, he can't shake his unnerved feeling. Turns up his music and tries to get out of his head. 

***

He's running on two hours of sleep and is on his fifth cup of coffee when Cisco accosts him in the hallway and pulls him into an empty classroom. "We need to talk."

"I think you kind of missed your chance to get in my pants." Hartley snaps and he moves to walk past Cisco.

"Last night I had this great idea for an assignment I was working on so I went to the lab to hammer out the details. I got there about two am." And Hartley turns, face white as a sheet. Cisco continues, "Tell me I didn't see what I thought I saw, that that wasn't what it looked like. Just tell me I didn't see you making out with our supervisor."

Hartley strongly considers saying, "Well we did more than that." But mostly he just wants to curl up under a rock to escape the way Cisco is looking at him, like Hartley disappointed him somehow. So he feels his shoulders slump and he just whispers, "It was exactly what it looked like.", he admits.

Cisco sighs, "Is he blackmailing you or something?"

Hartley laughs, "God no, we have a mutually beneficial agreement."

Cisco looks absolutely horrified, "Hartley, it's a blatant abuse of power."

"I'm an adult, Cisquito. We came to a mutually beneficial agreement as adults.", Hartley insists and it probably comes out much harsher than he meant it to.

Cisco looks like he's on the verge of turning green, "Do you think you could say no to him, really?"

"Of course." Hartley says sharply.

Cisco seems very skeptical, but sighs and runs in his fingers through his hair. "I have to go."

He watches Cisco rush away and he sighs. Fuck his life.

***

Ronnie glances over at him several times during Dr. Stein's class, looking very concerned and Hartley pretends he doesn't notice, focuses on Dr. Stein's matrices and he tries to block Cisco's disappointed look out of his mind. 

On his way out of class he runs into Harrison again, "Can you meet me to talk about your thesis?" 

Hartley nods and Ronnie laughs as he walks by, "You guys must make a great team, considering how closely you work."

Hartley turns to him and smiles thinly, "Yeah, must be." And all he can think of is Cisco and how concerned he was.

When he gets to the office Harrison is sitting down, and as Hartley approaches him, he pulls Hartley into his lap and kisses him, drawing tiny gasps and moans out of him but he can't quite get Cisco out of his fucking head

When he breaks the kiss, he leans his forehead against Harrison's and says, "We have to stop." 

Harrison blinks, "What?"

"This has to stop." Hartley reiterates, not looking at Harrison who tightens his grip on Hartley's thighs. Hartley blinks, startled by the sudden roughness. "We shouldn't have let it get this far," Hartley says firmly and Harrison relaxes his grip and Hartley sort of stumbles up as Harrison opens his mouth to say something.

"You're being paranoid, Hartley.", Harrison says finally but Hartley's already most of the way out the door by the time he finishes his sentence. 

*** 

He stops at the library to get something he needed for an assignment. And sighs. He knows how close he is to Cisco's house so he grabs his stuff and heads in that direction. He's not sure what he wants to accomplish with this, and he's not sure what he means by that. Not sure whether he means seeing Cisco or even breaking up with Harrison in the first place. But he finds himself outside Cisco's small apartment. So he takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.

Cisco opens the door a split second before Hartley is about to leave, "Hartley." He sounds very surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I uh, I broke up with him." 

Cisco blinks, "Oh. I'd, um, invite you in but I kind of have a date."

"Oh, I'll head out then, I guess. Uh, have fun tonight?", Hartley says awkwardly and he turns tail before Cisco can say anything else. 

He turns up his music until he can barely hear his own heart rate and when he gets home he opens the last paper he was reading and curses the fact that tomorrow was Friday and that meant seeing a lot of both Harrison - Dr. Wells - and Cisco. Fuck his life. So he turns to a non Harrison - Dr. Wells - related paper and focuses on that instead. It's for Dr. Smoak's class so it is slightly out of Hartley's usual frame of reference but that feels like a welcome break from the disaster that is his personal life. 

Pulls up the graphics software he needs for the assignment and focuses on, plays with the simple ray tracer framework, and considers implementing some advanced techniques. He reads through the manual and it doesn't seem that difficult.

It isn't but it pulls him down a rabbit hole and he ends up staying up all night playing with efficient subsurface scattering algorithms, and ends up with some good renders. 

Which means he regrets all of his life choices even more than usual when his alarm blares and hasn't slept at all. It's gonna be another five cups of coffee and murder day. So he stops at Jitters and tries not to murder the overly chipper barista who he vaguely recognizes.

Pulls his hood over his head and turns up his music until he and his third cup of coffee arrive at intro to mech Engg with a cringe. As he enters the room he locks eyes with Harrison - Dr. Wells- who smiles at him, like nothing had happened and Cisco comes in with sunglasses and he takes them off with a cringe and is that a hickey? He tries not to look too disappointed.

Dr. Wells turns to the board, where he's drawn out the bell curve for the class average and hey, it's actually not that bad and as hungover as Cisco looks, he also looks proud. And even Hartley smiles a bit. But he'd deny it forever.

*** 

After class he's on his way to the library with another cup of coffee when Harrison Wells comes up beside him and says, "Can we talk about your thesis later?"

"Um, I'll meet you during office hours? How does 1 sound?" And Harrison raises an eyebrow but nods and walks away.

Hartley's walking through the library when he recognizes Cisco gathering up some books and Hartley approaches him and Cisco tugs his earbuds out and cringes when he sees him, "I'm sorry I totally blew you off last night."

Hartley shrugs, "How was your date?"

"He was nice, funny, charming."

"So nothing like me.", Hartley says flatly.

Cisco sighs, "Yeah, that was kind of the problem."

"Well I'm glad it went well.", Hartley mutters reaching for a book.

"Wait. Hartley." Hartley pauses mid motion, "I don't date closet cases but..." 

Hartley interrupts him, "You want this as much as I do. Don't worry I'm not a blushing virgin."

"Thank you for reminding me that our supervisor is a sexual predator." Cisco says darkly, but then he's pulling Hartley into a searing kiss hidden only by the bookshelves and Hartley shudders against him.

"Fuck, Cisco.", he murmurs as he breaks the kiss. 

"Want to grab dinner at my place?" Cisco asks quietly.

"Yeah, that sounds good.", he pauses, "I, uh told Dr. Wells I'd meet him during his office hours, at 1."

Cisco raises an eyebrow, "You sure that's smart?"

Hartley shrugs, "He's still my supervisor. I still have work with him."

Cisco sighs but nods, "Just be careful around him, he's a creep."

"Relax." Hartley says with a subtle smile.

***

When he heads up to Harrison's office, his bag banging against his leg, he's not nervous, but he's something, anxious maybe. He knocks the door and can hear Barry Allen chatting to Dr. Wells through the half open door and he rolls his eyes as Barry slips out past him, "Have you really replaced me already?"

Dr. Wells takes off his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose, "Hello, Hartley."

"I hope my decision to stop sleeping with you hasn't affected your opinion of my intelligence that much." 

Dr. Wells raises an eyebrow, "I could never underestimate your intelligence."

Hartley smiles softly to himself as he turns to look at Harrison's bookshelf and he hears Harrison step in beside him, feels Harrison's breath on the back of his neck. And his breath catches unconsciously as Harrison steps away with a smirk twisting his lips. Hartley's eyes flutter and he keeps his gaze focused on the bookshelf. He notices a journal from the founder of Ferrari. "You really do have a need for speed, Dr. Wells."

"You can still call me Harrison, Hartley. And it's a hobby. Cars are excellent blend of speed and engineering but you knew that already."

Hartley nods, "Yes, I saw your team of undergrads running some preliminary tests in the basement."

Dr. Wells smiles, "I was a little disappointed you never joined them."

He raised an eyebrow, "You know I don't play well with others."

Dr. Wells laughs, "But you play so well. They would have benefited greatly from your work." He can feel the flush climbing up his neck as strongly as he feels Dr. Wells just looking at him. "How do you feel about a round?" 

Hartley nods, "Alright." And Dr. Wells pulls out the chess board, sets it up and again Hartley feels Harrison just watching him, and the weight of Harrison's gaze feels as intense as any Hartley has felt from him and when they make eye contact he can see what can only is desire flickering in Harrison's eyes and Hartley moves his bishop.

Dr. Wells smiles, "Clever, clever."  
When Harrison wins, it's closer than usual, "Very good game, Hartley."

As Hartley stands, Harrison steps into his space and there is a moment where they just stand, almost nose to nose and Hartley can feel Harrison's breath on his lips and one of Hartley's hands slips to the doorknob and he tilts his head up, lips bushing Harrison's and then he stops, and jerks back. Hartley opens the door and hurries away, keeping his head down to hide his flushed cheeks. 

 

***

He makes it to Cisco's long after his blush fades, but with his breathing still feeling mildly strangled. But he tries to relax as he knocks on the door and Cisco opens it quickly, like he'd been concerned Hartley wouldn't make it. 

"If you say you didn't think I'd show, I might actually cut you."

"I don't know," Cisco shrugs, "Maybe Wells got his claws in you again."

"I'm not some victim, Cisco." Hartley glares and Cisco raises his hands in deference.

But he slips in and ignores the way Cisco is looking at him with concern. He can smell something delicious, "You can cook?"

"Uh, yeah.", Cisco says laughing.

"I suppose you didn't have a cook."

"You're an ass, Rathaway.", Cisco grumbles but he's smiling.

It serves to break the tension and Hartley shakes away the thoughts of the chess game from earlier that day.

***

After dinner, they end up on Cisco's bed and Cisco turns on some background noise and they're mostly talking about school but Cisco keeps looking at him and finally Hartley sighs aggressively, "What is it?" 

"How long did you and Wells...", and Cisco trails off like he can't quite bring himself to finish the sentence.

"Since the middle of my last year as an undergrad."

"So you were... When you applied to grad school?"

Hartley just sighs and nods, "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"It's incredibly fucked up, I'm sorry, Hart."  
"Probably.", Hartley shrugs but he gets distracted by looking at Cisco's lips and he leans over and kisses him. It's not like kissing Harrison at all, Harrison is always in charge even when it feels like Hartley is. Topping from the bottom and all that. Cisco kisses slower, lets Hartley direct the pace, just pulls him closer. When he ends up straddling Cisco again, his hands on Hartley's thighs he gasps. He's a little more used to quickies, not this growing slow desire. 

"Mother of God.", he hears Cisco breath in Spanish as Hartley tugs his shirt off. "Are you sure about this?" Cisco says.

"God yes.", Hartley whispers as Cisco's grip tightens. 

***

Dr. Wells visits him after he lets out his tutorial, just stands in the door until Hartley notices him. "Afternoon, Dr. Wells."

"I haven't seen you in a while."

Hartley shrugs, "I've been busy." But he's careful to keep some distance between himself and Wells.

"Do you have time for a round, of chess of course." Harrison says with an idle laugh when Hartley raises an eyebrow while packing up his books.

"Uh, no I have some lab time booked.", He says trying to keep his voice flat but he's not sure if it works because Harrison gives him a knowing look as he walks away. 

Hartley sighs and heads up to meet Caitlin and Cisco in the lab.

Cisco looks up, "Hey you're late."

"Uh, yeah sorry, I uh ran into Dr. Wells."

Caitlin laughs, "Damn Hartley, that's the least eloquent I've ever heard you be."

And Hartley rolls his eyes at her but doesn't quite meet Cisco's eyes.

***

They've been working for about half an hour when Dr. Wells pokes his head in to ask how they're doing and Hartley just smiles and says, "Send harder problems next week."

And Harrison laughs, "Are you sure you wouldn't be better suited to an advanced track PhD program?" and Hartley twitches, his face flushing but just laughs.

"I think this suits me fine, Dr. Wells."

When Dr. Wells leaves, Caitlin turns to them. "So that was weird, right?"

Hartley blinks, "Was it?" He's lying through his teeth. Harrison's been getting kind of erratic since Hartley ended their relationship. 

"No, that was weird.", Cisco says and he doesn't quite meet Hartley's eyes.

***

When Caitlin leaves for dinner with Ronnie, Cisco looks at him, "What's going on?"

"I don't know.", Hartley says honestly, "He's been like this since I... Well you know."

Cisco raises an eyebrow but clearing ignores the obvious chance to say I told you so, for which Hartley is grateful.

But they head back to Cisco's for some dinner and he gets lost in the way Cisco sounds and the way he feels under him.

 

"Be careful.", Cisco murmurs when they're laying side by side after.

"Of what?" 

"Of Harrison. I don't trust him.", Cisco murmurs and kisses Hartley's shoulder.

***

He should have known something was up when his mother calls to confirm he'll be at dinner tomorrow. He should have been scared.

But it's not until he gets there and they have all of his favourite food out and wow he didn't know they paid that much attention. But eventually the light atmosphere turns serious.

"Hartley", his father starts, "We've heard some...disquieting rumours. Is there something you need to tell us?"

And Hartley can feel the blood drain from his face, knows there's only one person this vindictive. Harrison you motherfucker. So he closes his eyes, tightens his grip on his utensils and says, much more calmly than he feels, "I'm gay."

"We can arrange for you to talk to someone about that?"

"I'm not interested." He says flatly, doubling down, he's not going to back out now, not when fucking Harrison made the decision for him.

And his father sighs, "I think you should leave. And just stay away."

Hartley stands, his utensils clattering against the porcelain as he pushes his chair back and grabs his coat and his bag and walks out the door.

He calls the only person he can think of, "Can you pick me up?" 

"Where are you?" Cisco asks, he's gotten to the edge of the block.

"Just give me ten to get to the other side of the gate." And his voice is starting to shake.

"Hartley, talk to me, what happened?"

Hartley sighs, "Harrison outed me to my parents. I think they just kicked me out."

"You really think he would?."

"He's the only person that vindictive." Hartley sighs, "My parents own my apartment. I'll have to find somewhere new to live."

He does have some savings, fearing this eventuality. He hears Cisco sigh, "You'll stay with me for a while," he pauses awkwardly, "I mean if you want?"

"Yeah, that sounds...good."

Cisco's car pulls up to the gates about 10 minutes after Hartley gets off the phone with him and he's sort of starting to shake but he smiles in relief when he sees Cisco.

He slides into the passenger seat, turns and kisses Cisco, "You were right."

"Hey, it'll be ok. You're like actually a genius remember?"


End file.
